The idea of establishing the U-Merge Association developed over a long time. I have personally worked for many years in several different countries and, especially in emerging economies. I encountered a serious lack of standards, education and institutional support. There is a serious global need in urology for knowledge transfer from West to East, and from North to South.

There remains a serious discrepancy between experts willing to teach and urologists ready to absorb the knowledge on one hand, and the reality of poor educational systems associated with a weak knowledge transfer on the other hand. Eager as they may be, many national urological associations and societies lack the strength and resources to carve new paths through these difficulties.